ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : History of the Early Cold War : The Space Race </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2001 --> </head> <body bgcolor = "lightgreen"> <div align = "center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../banner.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Decolonization </B></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "decol.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "xecw.html"> <img src = "../banners/banecw.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "armsrace.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"></A> </TD> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Arms Race </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- function SymError() { return true; } window.onerror = SymError; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-0213752126925919"; google_alternate_color = "FFFFE1"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_channel ="4814426207"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_page_url = document.location; google_color_border = "FF3300"; google_color_bg = "FFFFE1"; google_color_link = "0000CC"; google_color_url = "008000"; google_color_text = "6F6F6F"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <BR><BR><BR> </div> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "900" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "6" face = "arial"><B> The Space Race </B></font> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <BR><BR> <font size = "4" face = "Times Roman"> Russian scientist S.P. KOROLEV had experimented with missiles before World War II. With the victory over Nazi Germany, Soviet authorities had been able to "invite" German missile experts into the Soviet Union, where they were regularly interviewed by Soviet engineers, Thus, Societ space technology got a boost; in 1957 the USSR launched the world's first satellite, the SPUTNIK. To the US it came as a shock that the USSR, regarded technically rather backward, could outdo the US in this field. In 1961 the a Soviet rocket brought the first man, cosmonaut YURI GAGARIN into space and safely back to earth. <BR> NASA, established in 1960 as the institution in charge of the US space program, also benefitted from German wartime missile research; Germany's foremost rocket scientist, WERNHER VON BRAUN, became NASA's number two man. Von Braun had been "invited" to the U.S. in 1945, and had worked for the U.S. army from 1945 to 1960.<BR> US President JOHN F. KENNEDY then announced an ambitious program, the object of which was to land a man on the moon and bring him back, which was accomplished by the mission of APOLLO 11 in 1969, astronaut NEIL ARMSTRONG planting the US flag on the moon. The arms race was very costly; as a byproduct computer and satellite technology were developed. <BR><BR> Both sides in the Cold War regarded space technology as an area to prove their country's (and political system's) competitiveness. For Soviet propaganda, the launch of both the Sputnik and of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as the first man in space were a huge boost to their morale, giving credit to the argument that communism would be superior to capitalism. Soviet propagandists would readily admit that Soviet technicians had had to catch up with western technology, yet here they achieved a couple of firsts. <BR> The US administration under John F. Kennedy was not willing to admit Soviet superiority in this technology and spent huge sums to come up with the even more spectacular landing of an astronaut on the moon, an event televised all over the world. <BR> Soviet propaganda abused their spaceflight to 'prove' that God does not exist - it was stated, the cosmonauts have been up there and did not see him. The difference in terminology - Soviet cosmonauts, US astronauts, is also ideologically based. <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> EXTERNAL <BR> FILES </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> The History Of The Space Race, from <A HREF = "http://www.spacefrontier87.homestead.com/"><B>Waynesboro Area Middle School</B></A> <BR> Space Race, an exhibition of the <A HREF = "http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal114/SpaceRace/"><B>National Air and Space Museum</B></A> <BR> A Giant Leap for Mankind, article from <A HREF = "http://www.lifemag.com/Life/space/giantleap/index.html"><B>Time-Life</B></A> <BR> Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age, from <A HREF = "http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/"><B>NASA</B></A> <BR> Biography of S.P. Korolev, from <A HREF = "http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/korolev.html"><B>NASA</B></A> <BR> Biography Wernher von Braun, from <A HREF = "http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/braun.html"><B>NASA</B></A> <BR> Sputnik is launched 1957, from <A HREF = "http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/Technology/Sputnik.html"><B>Technology Chronology</B></A> <BR> Yuri Gagarin, his life in pictures, from <A HREF = "http://www.abamedia.com/rao/gallery/gagarin/"><B>Russian Archives Online</B></A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> DOCUMENTS </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> Soviet Documents on the Sputnik 1957, from <A HREF = "http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/ussr.html"><B>NASA</B></A> <BR> US Documents on the Sputnik Shock and US Reaction, 1957-1960, from <A HREF = "http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/us.html"><B>NASA</B></A> <BR> Photo Gallery : Sputnik, from <A HREF = "http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/gallerysput.html"><B>NASA</B></A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> REFERENCE </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border="5" cellspace="10" cellpadding="10" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><TR> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="center"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>This page is part of <B>World History at KMLA</b></i></font><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>First posted on July 7th 2001, last revised on November 14th 2004</i></font> <BR><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman"> Click here to go <A HREF = "../../index.html">Home</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../about.html">Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../links.html">Statistics</A><BR> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR><BR><BR> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> </DIV><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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